Catalyst
by Space Mercutio
Summary: Kadoya Tsukasa had never been important to Hikari Natsumi until her dream proved true, and he became a uniter of worlds. Somehow, her life was going significantly off-track. Decade re-write.
1. Enter the Savior of Worlds

"Hikawa-san!"

"You jerk!"

"Take that!"

These were the sounds Hikari Natsumi heard over the course of her nightmare. They were, unmistakably, the sounds of war. What else could they be?

Seemingly superhuman, a hundred multicolored figures stormed through the quarry. Natsumi covered her ears and got low as a beam of purple light rippled past her, shooting up a storm of gravel and raising the smell of burnt chalk. To her far left, a tank—or was that a dragon…in a castle? To her far right, a troop of similar fighters, ready to win whatever their fight was just as much as the lone red rider on a bike in front of her. She knew she had to get out of the way—he was rushing her down with no intention of stopping. She dived sideways.

A white light made itself known to Natsumi, and the rest of the fighters. The ones, that is, that weren't dead. Standing in front of her as if to protect her, a figure descended from it, cyan and magenta like printer ink. She didn't know quite why, but she felt grateful to this figure for something.

Her once-white dress was now blackened with the dirt of the quarry. Thousands of sounds rumbled in her ears, and various explosions were threatening to make the ground cease to exist under her feet. She took a step forward.

Someone cursed. She felt a sharp pain in her back, and everything went black.

* * *

"Natsumi!" Natsumi heard her grandfather shout. She sighed groggily. She'd never had that dream before, but whatever she'd eaten must have been something crazy. She pushed off the covers, stood up, and went to her dresser for something pleasant to wear. She opened the top drawer for anything she could put on quickly. The white dress from her dream stared her in the face.

She pushed it to the side of the drawer, opting instead for a simple T-shirt and shorts. It was summer, after all. No reason to trouble herself with her Sunday best.

A sandwich. That had been it. What she'd eaten last night, that was. Well, that had never given her a crazy dream before. She tried to make a mental note to ask her grandfather about it, but she forgot about it before she was halfway down the stairs that led from the bedrooms to her grandfather's coffee shop and photo studio.

"Natsumi, there you are," her grandfather said. Eijiro Hikari was a feeble-seeming old man, but stout of spirit, and full of smiles. "There are some…aggravated…customers in the shop. They're dissatisfied with their photos."

"Dissatisfied?" Natsumi echoed. "Why would they be dissatisfied? You're a genius behind the lens."

"Oh, it wasn't me that took the pictures," Eijiro said.

Natsumi interrupted him before he spoke again. "Oh, don't tell me…"

Eijiro looked down and wrung his hands. "It's that intern, Kadoya Tsukasa. He took them."

Natsumi rolled her eyes. "From day one, he hasn't been able to produce a single good photo with that camera of his. Why do you let him stay? Out of pity?"

"Well, that and…um…pity, yes," Eijiro said quietly. It was true, he did harbor some strange kind of soft spot for his intern. How, Natsumi had never been able to see. She put a hand on her hip.

"I'm going to find him."

She passed said dissatisfied customers on her way through the shop and out the doors. "Gentlemen, I'm going to speak with the young man who took your photos. In the meantime, you'll be refunded for all the photos were worth. _Right, Grandpa_?" she told them, raising her voice so Eijiro could hear her.

She heard a mumble from Eijiro, but was out the door before she really got an answer.

Eijiro's protégé was sitting on a bench not far from the studio. His pink camera hung around his neck peacefully. Overlooking the lake, he looked quite comfortable.

Until Natsumi stuck her fingers under his chin, pushing on a pressure point that (according to her) only she knew about. For some reason or another, it caused uncontrollable laughing along with intense pain.

"AAAAHH—HAHAHA—Oh, _ow_ , can you _not_?" the intern said angrily.

"We're refunding those men for your photos. Your _terrible_ photos."

"It's not my fault!" Tsukasa said, still laughing a little bit.

"And just how is it not your fault? Not one of your pictures come out right, and yet, you keep using that camera!"

"It's not just that camera. It's because I don't belong in this world."

"Oh, _sure_. How on earth are you planning on getting to the world you _do_ belong in? Although, as far as I'm concerned, the sooner the better-!"

Natsumi's rant was cut short. The reason for this was Tsukasa's abrupt standing up and running away. "Oh, _please_ ," Natsumi said.

But then she did a double take.

Tsukasa was running toward two men that abruptly keeled over. Two translucent blue fangs stuck out of each of their necks, and as Natsumi drew closer, they looked like glass corpses.

And then the owners of the fangs were on top of Tsukasa. Trying hard to beat them away, he swung at them, but it seemed to have no effect. Natsumi did the smart thing, and put as much distance as she could from the fight, and started to dial the emergency number. But a green claw batted the phone out of her hand—staring her in the face was a monster.

Running the other way this time, she could see that the park was filled with the like. She needed to catch her breath, and a secluded, empty, broken-down wall seemed like her best option for cover. As she caught up to it, she put her hand against it to brace herself, and heard a metallic noise. She'd kicked something.

Upon closer inspection, it was surprisingly dirty, even considering the condition of the park currently. The object was surprisingly big for one, but Natsumi had no other ideas what to call it except for a belt buckle. Beside it was a pristine binder that looked like the kind of thing she'd seen smaller kids carry their Pokémon cards in. But this binder was full of different cards…that seemed to fit in the belt.

"What's that?" Oh, for the love of…even in the face of death, Tsukasa was nonchalant in bending over her shoulder annoyingly. And with a hum, he snatched the objects from her hands. He twirled the buckle flippantly, grunted, and pressed it to his waist.

At once, the belt's grime and dirt cleared itself away. The thing fastened itself around his waist, but he didn't seem surprised. Instead, a small grin permeated his features. Rifling through the cards, he said, "What do _you_ do?" amusedly. He picked one, and tried to put it in.

The card wouldn't fit. This belt was poking fun at him. Or so he thought. He fiddled with the buckle, unaware that a monster was heading straight for him.

"There we go!" Tsukasa smiled as he opened the belt properly. He slipped his card of choice inside, and then closed the belt.

" _Kamen Ride_ ," said a voice from the belt abruptly.

" _D-D-D-Decade!"_

Natsumi gave a small yelp and backed up. So did the monster. Tsukasa, meanwhile, was covered in grey armor. Natsumi drew in a breath sharply. Wasn't that the guy from her dream?

Translucent cards affixed themselves to Tsukasa's helmet, and cemented Natsumi's suspicions. This cameraman's intern was going to ruin the world. And honestly, Natsumi wasn't surprised.

Very weirded out, but not surprised.


	2. An Explanation and Coffee

Natsumi screamed again as Tsukasa ran a sword through yet another monster.

Er, flash back a few minutes, actually.

The magenta armor had solidified around Tsukasa, leaving him free to move. He felt something heavy in his hands, and looking down, it appeared to be a parcel of some sort. On an instinct of unknown origin, his wrist flicked and a blade unfolded out of the sides.

"Remarkable," Tsukasa said, unfazed. However, with a slight flash of panic, he realized that he wasn't the one moving his body. Whatever Natsumi was seeing, it wasn't him doing it.

But whatever was possessing him seemed to be benign-at least, he wasn't stabbing any humans. Yet.

Hence Natsumi's screaming. "Can you not stand in front of my sword?" he shouted. He wanted to make it seem like everything was under control.

"Stop making it sound like you know what you're doing! I hate it when you sound like you know what you're doing!" she snapped.

"I know what I'm doing!" Tsukasa fired back. He didn't know what he was doing.

As if to prove his point, his hand moved into the binder of cards and pulled out a carefully selected one. It looked vivid and bright, with an armored figure, though clad differently than himself. This one was red and gold, like the kind of hero in an ancient legend.

It moved on its own into his belt, gracefully. His armor seemed to shrink, and he felt faster, yet just as powerful. It felt good, but...

What on earth was going on?

* * *

Eijiro Hikari wasn't concerned with the battle going on outside. Instead, there was a small white insect flying just out of reach, and making a very annoying noise.

He was just trying to fix some coffee for the next customers. Couldn't that bug be quiet?

Ah, well. Unlike most men his age, Eijiro felt as though his lifespan was refreshing daily. He had all the time in the world...

"Although," he said to himself, "Natsumi really should be back by now."

Natsumi had come to live with him at the beginning of the season, while her parents, both away in America for business, couldn't take care of her. She'd fit right in with her grandfather...at home. Around town, it took her a few weeks to decide she enjoyed hanging out with any one person, and in fact, Eijiro was almost certain she felt the closest to Tsukasa over anyone else, as paradoxical as it was.

"Why should that be so?" he mused.

And then, the insect-no, _bat_ -decided to talk. "Ah, did you say something, Mr. Hikari?"

This was going to be an interesting conversation. Time for some coffee...

* * *

Natsumi felt safe enough to stop screaming when the last of the monsters was destroyed. Tsukasa was back in his 'default' magenta form.

"See? I knew what I was doing," he said, a little shakily. Truth be told, he was just as much an outsider as Natsumi was.

Natsumi was stopped from a reply, because Tsukasa or whatever divine being was nearby picked that time to warp him off of Natsumi's plane of existence. He disappeared into thin air.

Tsukasa couldn't hear it, but the screaming resumed. He was more concerned with the young man standing in front of him...on an Earth. As in, standing on top of a planet. Tsukasa tensed, still in his armor.

"No need to be frightened," the young man said, slightly smiling. "I speak to you as Wataru Kurenai, King of the Fangires. I mean no harm."

The words seemed strange coming out of his mouth, to Tsukasa. Like he hadn't done much public speaking before.

"I take it you are Kamen Rider Decade?" said Wataru.

"I'm not sure what I am," Tsukasa said. "What's going on?"

"If he's picked up the driver, he must be," he heard Wataru mumble. Turning his attention back to Tsukasa, Wataru continued. "Having used the belt, you _have_ to be Decade. In essence, you're the protector of worlds."

"Worlds?"

"Correct. As of right now, there are nine alternate realities attempting to merge with your world. I don't know exactly why. All that I know is that there was an anomaly in every world that caused them all to shift. In order to stop this, Decade, you must save each world however possible." Wataru's words seemed a bit rushed, Tsukasa noticed.

"Wait a minute. How am I supposed to get into another world? Are you going to magic me there or something?"

Wataru looked blank for a second. Then he grinned. But just as he was about to say something, Tsukasa felt what could only be described as a shimmer in reality. Almost as if Wataru _had_ magicked him back to reality, Tsukasa was standing outside the entrance to the Hikari studio, next to an entering Natsumi.

* * *

"Ah, Mr. Hikari! Look, look!" the bat announced. The bat, or Kivala, as Eijiro had learned, was hyperenergetic and constantly cheerful. Once she'd introduced herself, Eijiro wasn't nearly as wary of her as he'd been. Or maybe he was just too trusting in his old age.

The bat hovered around a photo backdrop he'd never seen before in his studio, now hanging on his wall. How had that gotten there?

It was a rainy scene, with two police cars heading full speed for a smoking mountain. It certainly _was_ an interesting picture. He reached out a hand to touch it-

-And he literally went inside of the backdrop, and came out the other side in...his studio?

He was going to need more coffee.

* * *

"Grandfather?" said Natsumi, entering the studio. When Tsukasa had popped out of nowhere next to her at the entrance, it had taken a while to get over the screaming, but she could handle it. Kinda.

"Anyway, what's the big deal about me showing up out of nowhere? Don't you always punch me in the face out of nowhere?" Tsukasa asked, only half kidding.

"I've never punched you in the face out of nowhere, so shut it. Grandfather, where are you?" Natsumi asked to thin air.

"I don't think he's-" Tsukasa was cut short by a gesture from Natsumi, who had noticed the backdrop.

"This is new," Natsumi mused. She reached out to touch it.

Both Tsukasa and Natsumi were gone within the second.


	3. Kuuga

"New plan: don't touch 'new' things," Tsukasa grumbled once he'd gotten his bearings.

With Eijiro watching, they'd both popped out of the backdrop...and back into the studio. Upon first glance, that was. After a quick look outside and a few coffees, they'd swapped stories exhaustively (including what Eijiro had learned of Kivala, and what she was willing to tell them), leading them to, "don't touch 'new' things."

See, upon closer inspection, the backdrop had led them to a completely different world, where only the studio was intact. Everything else was completely foreign to the trio, accompanied by Kivala.

"How was I supposed to- _you_ didn't know it was an interdimensional portal, either!" Natsumi said indignantly. "Speaking of 'new', I don't remember _you_ regularly wearing a police outfit."

Tsukasa looked down. It was just as she had said; he was dressed in police garb. All he managed was a, "Huh. Told you I didn't belong in this world."

"That's it?"

"What's it?"

"That's all you're going to say?"

"Should I say something else?" Tsukasa and Eijiro were starting to look confused and nervous, respectively.

"I was thinking you might mention the fact that we're in another _world_ right now; I'm sure you haven't noticed it, but I'm a little bit _worried_!" Natsumi said hysterically. And, kicking the side of the coffee table for good measure, she left the studio.

Tsukasa looked at Eijiro, hoping for a look that said, _Girls, right?_

Instead, Eijiro wrung his hands. "Have I done a bad job parenting her?" Tsukasa swore Eijiro asked himself, which was so funny that Tsukasa would have laughed. Except there was hot coffee on his lap that had spilled when Natsumi had kicked the table. Ouch.

"What are you waiting for?" said Kivala.

"What do you mean, what am I waiting for?" Tsukasa frowned irately.

"Go after her," Kivala said, as if it was obvious.

* * *

 _Where do girls that flip off for no reason go?_ Tsukasa wondered as he searched for Natsumi. _And aren't I supposed to be saving the world right about now?_

He'd wanted to think she was going to come back inside shortly after the blowup, to apologize. Alas, from what little Tsukasa knew of her, she wasn't that kind of person. She'd held her grudge against him for this long, right?

His thoughts were interrupted by a shout, augmented by various sirens and car doors. "There it is; Number 15!"

Tsukasa saw a fleet of police cars pull up beside him. Officers piled out the sides, holding riot shields. One of them shouted to him: "Officer Kadoya, what are you going? Get over here!"

Taken by surprise, Tsukasa did as he was told. "Wh-what's going on?"

"Number fifteen is attacking! Don't you know there's an invasion on?"

"I know what I'm doing," Tsukasa snapped. _I'm very lost. Please send help._

But as he watched, a large grey monster reared its ugly head at something in the middle of the police convoy. That something was riding a bike, recklessly, towards the monster.

 _Wait...I know that figure,_ Tsukasa realized. It was the form he'd changed into earlier, the red and gold one. Quickly he rifled through his shiny new binder of cards, finding the one. _Kuuga_ , it read. But there was something different about the card. Instead of being vibrant with color, it was black and white, as though the life in it had faded out. Or maybe it was tired.

"What's wrong with you, Kadoya?" the officer beside him barked. "Now is _not_ the time!"

Tsukasa remembered Wataru talking about a Kamen Rider. Well, this Kuuga guy was certainly riding something, and he was definitely masked. _I bet Wataru wanted me to help this guy out._

Further eliciting annoyance from his fellow officer, Tsukasa left the safety of the riot shield. As he did so, he felt whatever it had been possessing him return. _It's like they think I can't do this on my own!_ Then he remembered that he probably couldn't. The card he'd used earlier also willed itself into his belt, transforming him like he had so many hours ago.

"What on earth, Kadoya?!" the officer beside him screamed. "One of our own is an Unidentified Lifeform?"

 _Unidentified Lifeform?_ He didn't have time to worry about it, moving towards the fight. However, it seemed this Kuuga was already doing a good job of finishing the creature off.

"Need any help?" Tsukasa said, as his arm moved toward a gun he never knew was there before. Apparently it had been hanging in a holster, just like his sword. Score one for mysterious entity.

But just as he tightened his finger on the trigger, the monster noticed him. As if realizing this fight was unfair, it hissed and bounded away, impossibly far.

"I guess you didn't need my help after all," Tsukasa said. Under the mask, he was sweating hard. This possession stuff was more than a little crazy; he was actually very scared of what the belt could make him do. _But I haven't killed any_ people _yet, right?_

Kuuga turned. "Help?" He sounded happy, like he'd be glad of it, but his tone quickly changed when he saw Tsukasa. "Decade?"

 _That's the second time I've heard that name. Is that_ me?

"Ichijou, get everyone out of here! This guy is even more dangerous!" Kuuga said, waving his arm frantically at the police convoy. The police shouted a myriad of things to each other, and quickly got inside their cars.

"Dangerous? Are you talking about me?"

Tsukasa got no response, and was completely unprepared when Kuuga punched him in the head. "Hey! What's going on here?"

Kuuga hit hard, he'd give him that. But _why_?

"I'm not trouble!" he protested. "I'm here to help!" But Tsukasa knew he'd have to get into a defensive stance to deal with another hit. For the first time, he moved on his own inside the armor. Whatever was possessing him had left for the moment.

Kuuga's next attack was a kick to Tsukasa's chest. He didn't manage to block it, and stumbled backwards. The kick elicited a smoking shower of sparks from his armor. _Yep, tough._

"I swear, I'm here to help!" Tsukasa grunted, as he tried to counterattack. He put his weight behind a punch to Kuuga's head-

-And his fist stopped short. _What?_

Even the defending Kuuga looked surprised, but he recovered faster. Leaping into the air, he came straight down with a kick, plowing full force into Tsukasa. It felt four times as strong as the last two hits he'd taken, and Tsukasa was in agony.

 _All this over Natsumi going missing..._ Tsukasa thought. He was positive he'd bit his tongue; he could taste blood.

He could also feel his consciousness fading, along with his armor.

Kuuga stared at Tsukasa, unconscious and curled into the fetal position. "Decade is...a person?"

Tsukasa stared back, as Kuuga's armor faded likewise, though he didn't seem as if he was in much pain. The last thing Tsukasa heard Kuuga say was, "He's a person! I've got to get him to a hospital!" As his brain shut down, Tsukasa felt two arms grab him, as if to carry him somewhere.

 _Why am I getting knocked out over girls and their crazy mood swings?_


	4. The Devil I

"About time!"

"Grandpa Eijiro, he woke up!"

"Ah, did he? That's good, very good."

The first thing Tsukasa saw was Eijiro's hands, wringing like it was going out of style. Beside him was a relieved Natsumi; behind her, an equally relieved stranger. This stranger certainly wasn't a doctor; he dressed a little like a lumberjack-tourist hybrid. He had a mouth that would give the toothiest grin imaginable were there occasion to grin. And by the looks of it, this guy could easily find something to grin about.

Tsukasa hated that kind of person.

"Uh, Natsumi, can you do something about the stranger back there?" Tsukasa asked.

"Oh, this is no stranger!" Natsumi beamed. "This is Yusuke Onodera. He's the guy who found you!"

"A very nice young fellow," Eijiro smiled.

Yusuke shot them both a look of disproportionate gratitude. Tsukasa was feeling quite suspicious.

"Found me?" Tsukasa asked. "I was surrounded by cops, and the person closest to me was…" He shot a pointed look at Yusuke, who had begun to look like he had stolen the last cookie from the cookie jar.

"You got me," Yusuke said. "I'm Kuuga. I didn't mean to knock you out-well, I did-I mean, after I saw you were human-"

"So what are you doing here?" Tsukasa asked.

"Me? Well, just checking up on you-you know-"

"Come to kick your prey while he's down?!" Tsukasa snarled, jumping out of the bed.

Yusuke backed away quickly. "It's nothing like that! I wasn't-I'm not-I'm don't think you're the devil, you _have_ to believe me-!"

However, it turned out Yusuke didn't need to protest, because even though Tsukasa had begun to recover quite fast-perhaps a side effect of the belt?-he wasn't fully recovered yet. He slumped back onto the bed. "The devil?" he asked.

"You mean...you don't know your own reputation?"

"How can I have a reputation? I've been here for one day!"

Yusuke looked confused. "Wait, so what _do_ you know?"

"Long story short? Found a belt, put it on, now I'm the savior of worlds, and you guys are first on the list, I guess. What's all this about the devil?"

"Uh, actually…" Yusuke sat down. "I think it would be better if I started at the beginning."

* * *

"It was around...2015. One year ago. There was an archaeological dig in southern Japan. The press was all over it. Biggest find since the dinosaurs, they said," Yusuke recounted.

"What was it?" Natsumi asked.

"They said it was the remains of a race predating humans. The Grongi. That's where we found the Arcle."

"The Arcle?"

"Oh, yeah." Yusuke pulled his shirt up a bit, revealing a belt similar to but somehow different from Tsukasa's. It was simpler, and held no cards. "It's how I transform. But the way things are going, Ai says I won't need it for much longer." He laughed. "Unfortunately, I can't take it off. It's fused to me."

"Anyway, the Grongi?" Tsukasa pressed.

"Well, as it turned out, we didn't dig up any Grongi bones. We dug up an entire surviving colony of them. And they had been waiting to take over from us for centuries."

"How could they survive for centuries? They have to eat, right?"

"They do need to eat, but not as often as us. Let me put it this way. Centuries ago, there were thousands of them. We only dug up fifty living ones."

"They ate each other, bones and all," Natsumi breathed.

"Right." Yusuke said. "And they're no slouches when it comes to fighting, either. Luckily, I've taken down almost all of them, thanks to a few power-ups along the way. Anyway, we estimate there are two left. I was out looking for them last week, but they don't want to be found. But then I found something else."

"Like what?"

"A man. He was dressed up like a fisherman. Stepped out of nowhere, talked to me for a little, and then disappeared into thin air. The really strange thing, though, was what he said. 'Beware of the devil, Decade' was what he said. He said you were a destroyer of worlds, Tsukasa."

At that moment, a woman walked into the room. She was young, pretty, and all business. "Yusuke, you're needed. Three blocks down, at the entrance to Mt. Hitoki."

"Ai!" Yusuke grinned. "Are we on for dinner tonight?"

"I'd love to, but can we do it after you finish off the Grongi?"

"Sure thing," Yusuke said. "I'll make sure it's a celebration dinner!"

"I'm coming, too," Tsukasa announced. "I'd better do my part to save this world."

"You've been doing this for a day," Natsumi remarked. "I'll be with Grandfather."

* * *

"So, what's your relationship with Ai?" Tsukasa asked Yusuke once they arrived at the foothills of Mount Hitoki.

"Wh-what? You can't just ask someone that question out of nowhere!" Yusuke sputtered

"So it's like that?" Tsukasa needled.

"...I mean, _yeah_ , I guess. Ai is probably the next best thing to family I have here, since I moved out. She's also my only inspiration. I want it to be something more. I don't think she feels the same way, though."

"This is the last of the Grongi, right?"

Yusuke nodded.

"Why don't you ask her how she feels after this?"

"I think I will," Yusuke grinned. This guy was a chuckle head.

"Hurry up!" Ai insisted from up ahead. She must have gotten there first.

"See you at dinner," Yusuke said, catching up to her.

The two Riders, along with Ai, stood in the middle of a convoy of police cars. Two Grongi stood in front of them, resisting all the bullets the police were shooting.

"Officer Kadoya, you should be on the hospital!" one officer said.

"I heal fast," Tsukasa shrugged. Taking out the buckle, he and Yusuke transformed into their respective armors.

One Grongi shrunk into the forest.

"So now it's two against one," Tsukasa observed.

"Let's make this quick!" Yusuke declared.

The remaining Grongi opened its mouth and let loose a stream of green liquid. It hit the ground and part of a cop car, hissing. Within the next second, that ground had melted, and the cop car had a gaping hole in its side.

"Whoa," Tsukasa muttered.

"Seems like purple is the way to go," Yusuke said. Before Tsukasa could ask, Yusuke's armor had turned to a thick silver with purple lining. A snapped tree branch at Yusuke's feet had become a sword.

The Grongi spat again. Tsukasa leapt out of the way. "Look out!" he called to Yusuke.

But Yusuke took the acid head-on, and it hardly made a dent in the armor. He slashed in front of him with his sword.

The Grongi reeled. Tsukasa, still without trying to, unhooked a blaster he didn't know was there from his belt and fired at the monster.

Yusuke seemed to notice something else. "Tsukasa! The other Grongi is moving!"

"I think I can handle this guy," Tsukasa assured him. Tsukasa didn't feel assured, considering how finicky the belt was being these days, but he said it anyway. You take the other one."

Tsukasa's hand took a card from his binder and placed it in the belt.

" _Final Kamen Ride._ "

Yusuke ran towards the place he had seen the Grongi: directly behind the police. He ran full speed towards it. It edged closer to the panicked police-and closer to Ai.

"Don't touch her!" Yusuke roared.

Tsukasa leapt into the air. A stream of holographic cards pointed from his toe to his Grongi. "That's new."

He came back down in a kick, landing it right on the monster's face. It exploded instantly.

"That takes care of that," Tsukasa said. He wasn't sure how he felt about the belt having a mind of its own, but for now, he was satisfied.

"I said, don't touch her!" Yusuke was saying. He was almost there. The Grongi had Ai backed up against a cop car.

Yusuke leapt over the car to see a horrifying sight below him.

The Grongi had stabbed Ai through the heart.

Yusuke stopped thinking. He saw red. Later, it would be said that he went primal, literally tearing the Grongi apart. It was over in a flash.

A detransformed Yusuke knelt over a dying Ai.

"Ai…" Yusuke choked.

Ai didn't move, but smiled. "You did it, Yusuke…"

Yusuke wept. "We...made dinner plans," he sobbed.

"We'll reschedule" was the last thing Ai ever said.

* * *

Tsukasa took a final look at the wailing Yusuke, and left for Eijiro's.

Natsumi was there waiting for him. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's nothing. Just a casualty."

"That's not nothing," Natsumi insisted. "Are you okay?"

"I know it wasn't my fault. I'm okay. I'm worried about Yusuke, though."

"Everyone, look at that!" Eijiro's voice called.

"It looks like your time in this world is up, Tsukassy," Kivala announced. "You've saved it."

Tsukasa and Natsumi looked around the room. The backdrop had changed.

In place of the old one stood one of a gold figure, upright under a beam of light. On its left knelt a green, wild humanoid shape. On its right was a mechanical humanoid shape, also kneeling.

"Shall we?" Eijiro smiled.

"Wait!" someone new said.

The door was open, and in it stood Yusuke. "There's nothing for me here. This world is safe, but without Ai it feels empty. Let me save worlds with you," he begged.

Tsukasa glanced at Natsumi.

"Why not?"

The Hikari Photo Studio jumped into the backdrop.


	5. Secrets

"I've been to two worlds, and God still doesn't know my shirt size," Tsukasa muttered. "Wait a minute. These are my policeman clothes. Why hasn't my outfit changed?"

"If I were God, I'd do my best to stay away from you," Natsumi snarked, not really thinking too hard about it all. No one really said anything after that, except Kivala, who laughed. Everyone else looked worriedly at Yusuke.

"Where's the bad guy?" Yusuke said.

Natsumi's brow furrowed. _He's acting awfully okay for a guy who lost his "family" just a little bit ago._

"We can't just go and _find_ the bad guy, silly!" Kivala remarked. "Bad guys don't just walk up to your door and say hello!"

Natsumi shot Kivala a look. "Sorry, Yusuke. We don't know what's going on in this world yet. And…" she looked outside. "...it's getting a little late. None of us have had supper yet, and Tsukasa's the only one of us who's had much sleep lately."

"I see," Yusuke said simply.

"Well, I'm going to go prepare the meal, in that case," Eijiro asserted.

"I can help!" Yusuke called abruptly, leaping to his feet and almost chasing Eijiro into the Hikari Photo Studio's kitchen.

Tsukasa looked confused. Natsumi shared his concern. "What's going on with Yusuke?"

"I don't know, I just met him," snapped Tsukasa. "But you have a point. He just lost his girl; why is he so...dutiful?"

"What a brave soul," Kivala sighed.

Tsukasa raised an eyebrow. "You're certainly one to make remarks like that, when he-and _us_ -know you least of all."

"What is it you want to know?" Kivala giggled.

"Let's start with why you're here. And maybe how you got in here, and what exactly makes Grandfather so comfortable with you being here-" Natsumi was interrupted by Tsukasa.

"One question at a time," he said. "Why _are_ you here, Kivala?"

"Your guess is as good as mine; that's what I told Mr. Eijiro, and that's what I'm sticking to."

"What if I call bull?"

"It's the truth. I just popped into your world one day. I guess it must have been around the time you picked up the belt."

"So that's how you got in here? You just 'popped in?'" Natsumi asked, getting suspicious.

"That's right! What was the next question?" Kivala asked.

Tsukasa and Natsumi sighed. They weren't going to get any more information out of her, at least on that question. "So why is Grandfather so comfortable with you?" Natsumi asked.

"I told him I could help you," Kivala answered.

"Can you help us?" Tsukasa asked. "What exactly can a bat do for us?"

"I'm small. I'm good for surveillance," Kivala said. "And I've got sex appeal that Utada Hikaru would kill for."

Somehow Tsukasa doubted that last one. "Sex appeal-whatever, I'm not going to think about that one. But surveillance…"

"What about it?" Kivala asked. Natsumi caught a glimpse of Tsukasa's face; he was deep in thought.

Tsukasa's face cleared up suddenly. "You've already done the surveillance thing, haven't you?"

"When?"

"You said you must have popped in the moment I 'picked up the belt'. You were spying, weren't you?"

"I haven't left the studio as far back as I can remember," Kivala protested. "You can ask Mr. Eijiro!"

"Call him Mr. Hikari," Natsumi said, now just as suspicious as Tsukasa. "What else do you know…?

* * *

"It's nice to have another helping hand in the kitchen," Eijiro sighed happily. "My Natsumi hasn't helped out since she took over the photo studio...not enough time…"

"I love helping people," Yusuke stated, sounding...flat.

"Rice pilaf, rice pilaf…" Eijiro muttered, hunting for a recipe. "You know, young men like you are hard to come by. I love Tsukasa, but he's never offered to help out with dinner before. You should be proud, Yusuke. Saving Tsukasa's life and helping an old man like me."

Yusuke was feeling something different.

Things had been going well after college. Yusuke helped Ai out when he could, mostly looking for a job. There, he'd found his passion: helping out people in trouble. Unfortunately, all this helping people made it hard to find jobs, considering there were always people to help.

Then had come the Arcle. Yusuke had never considered that his passion could mesh with his job, and he had _certainly_ never thought that both would be forced on him. In an effort to save Ai - a _successful_ one - he'd put on the belt and never looked back.

After a fight with-was it Unidentified Lifeform 32 or 33?-whichever, he'd earned a kiss from Ai. After all, he'd nearly died in the fight. He was hoping things would go somewhere further, but they never got the chance.

Now Yusuke felt like a failure. Every thirty seconds or so, Ai's death kept replaying in his head. He'd always been an optimist, but now it just felt like there was an invisible wall keeping any such thoughts out. He felt like a robot.

"I don't know much about what happened," Eijiro started, preparing his ingredients for a rice pilaf, "but you seem different."

"Hm? How so?" Yusuke said, knowing he wasn't playing off his feelings well at all.

"Before, when you saved Tsukasa, you seemed...more lively? Happier?" Eijiro carried the rice over to a steamer. "Now, you feel like you're hiding something." Eijiro began to wring his hands, as he often did when uncomfortable. He didn't like making people share personal things, these words just came out.

"...I'm okay."

Eijiro somehow doubted that. The cooking continued in silence, Yusuke helping where he could, blank look in his eyes.

The rice pilaf, along with the main dish, fish, was finished in similar silence. "I'm here every day if you want to talk," Eijiro said quietly as they finished.

* * *

"Let me go! Don't hold on to me like that!" Kivala squealed as Yusuke and Eijiro entered.

Tsukasa clutched Kivala in his fists as he said, "Why are you really here?"

Eijiro would have begun to wring his hands, but the rice pilaf was in them. He quickly put it down and wrung his hands. "What's happening, Tsukasa?"

"We have a mole," Tsukasa explained. Natsumi nodded to back him up. "So, Kivala, were you really in the Hikari Photo Studio since the beginning?"

"Yes! Mr. Eijiro, tell them! I've been right next to you this whole time!" Kivala pleaded.

Eijiro scratched his head. "Tsukasa, why don't you let her go? She's telling the truth."

Tsukasa and Natsumi looked confused. "Then...how did she know…?" Tsukasa trailed off.

"Let her go," Eijiro chided. "She hasn't done anything wrong."

Tsukasa did as he was told. Meanwhile, Yusuke announced, "Dinner is ready."

"This isn't over," Tsukasa warned Kivala. Even so, the rest of the night seemed to imply that it was over for now.

* * *

Another world, another place. A young man who looked suspiciously like Wataru Kurenai sat on a dark purple throne, red banners depicting skulls surrounding him. A huge carving in the shape of an S sat above his head.

"I see your plan didn't really go like you'd hoped," Wataru said. "What do you plan to do now, Narutaki?"

"This was part of the plan, Lieutenant General," a man who looked like a fisherman assured him. "Do not discredit me." He was a little indignant.

"Don't forget who you're talking to," Wataru warned. "I may not be the leader of Shocker, but I still rank the highest in the organization."

"I could never forget about you, Lieutenant General," Narutaki said. "Don't worry, this is all to achieve the ultimate goal."

"That's right," Wataru smiled fiendishly. "General Kadoya has to take the throne."


End file.
